Broncos vs. Raiders Game Preview

One of the longest running rivalries in the NFL renews hostilities in Week 2, when the Denver Broncos host the Oakland Raiders. The Broncos looked well-rounded in their Week 1 win over Seattle, while the Oakland Raiders came out flat in the second half in their 20-point loss to the Rams to start the season.

Denver Broncos

Despite throwing three interceptions in his Denver Broncos debut, Case Keenum showed poised later in the game, helping the Broncos take the lead in the fourth quarter and ice the game with a few long drives.

The Broncos defence also looked great in Week 1, picking off two passes and sacking the quarterback six times.

Oakland Raiders

After taking a three-point lead into half-time of their season opener against the Rams, the Oakland Raiderscould not do anything in the second half, getting outscored 23-0 by the Rams.

Jon Gruden certainly has his work ahead of him this season, as Raiders’ offence looked old and the Raiders’ defence struggled to generate much of a pass rush without Khalil Mack.

Game Snippet

This game is the 1118 meeting between the two rivalries. The Raiders leads the all-time series 63-52-2, but Broncos is up 23-13 over the Raiders since 2000. The last time Oakland won in Denver (2015), Khalil Mack had five sacks for the Raiders.

Broncos vs. Raiders Betting Tips

1

Denver 7-3 S/U against Oakland

2

Denver 6-4 ATS against Oakland

3

Home team won last four games

4

0-3 O/U last three games

5

4-6 O/U last ten games

Broncos vs. Raiders Predictions

Against the Spread Prediction

Even if the Seattle Seahawks are not the team, they were when they just two seasons ago, bettors should have much more confidence in Denver in Week 2 of the NFL season. Case Keenum helped the Broncos put up the fourth most passing yardage in Week 2 (324 yards total), while their 35:08 of possession was third most (excluding overtime) in Week 1 of the NFL season. Jon Gruden’s slower offensive strategy should not welcome these statistics.

The Oakland Raiders scored the fewest points of any team in Week 1 that led their game in time of possession.

Denver’s defence should give the Raiders problems. They rank top-five in rush defence in the NFL over the last 17 games and have limited the Raiders to only 61.7 rushing yards over their previous three meetings.

Also, Denver last 12 wins against the Raiders have been by at least six points. The last time the Broncos won by failed to cover was -5.5 point spread was 2007.

Since the last season of Peyton Manning in Denver (when he struggled the Broncos won based off their defence), the average score in this rivalry has taken quite the nosedive. Four of the six games in that span ended with 30.0 points or less. That trend should continue on Sunday.

As great as Case Keenum looked in Week 1, do not expect him to lead a high-scoring offence throughout the season.

As the starter of the 13-3 Vikings last season (which had better offensive talent than the 2018 Broncos), the Vikings only scored more than 27 points in five of Keenum’s 15 games.

The Raiders offence needs time to adjust to 2018 football. They moved the ball fine for parts of the game, but looked the type of team that is going to consistently score a low amount of points.